June+20+Logger+Notes

SCKWP 400

Boogity Boogity Boogity Boys (and girls), let’s start writing! Welcome to the SCKWP 400 here in Hutchinson, Kansas. Man, we sure hope the weather and technology are in our favor today so we don’t have any delays in the race!

The drivers meeting occurred around 9:15 when Linley, driver of the Carraba’s Ford, got us started with a poem that lined out what we did they day before. She had a flat tire and some technology issues, but will surely be ready for the race today.

Dennis got all of the drivers prepared for their race by having us take a detour and introducing us to the new fuel offered by the book “At a Journal Workshop” by Ira Progoff. He explained the colored flags that can be used in journaling to help with the writing race. He also talked about ideas that could change school system races.

Learning Profiles: Inquires, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-minded, Caring, Risk-takers, Balanced, Reflective. The detour: Pick a learning profile that you match up with. Pick one that you do in your class. Pick one that you do in your school that needs improvement.

The pace car headed off to pit road, and the engines were revved up. The cars rounded turn 4, the green flag was waving and the writing race had started.

∑ Sam, driver of the Ford Hobby Lobby car, started by venting her frustrations about they racing system. ∑ Kendra, driver of the Dodge DeFazio car and Sam got a little loose and almost put each other into the wall, wanting to drive deeper into principles of school racing. ∑ Becky, quickly caught up in her Toyota Hastings car, and showed us her negotiating skills, which gave us a glimpse at her caring engine. ∑ The driver of the Chevy Anchor Inn car, Shirleen, headed to the front of the pack. ∑ Next we see Nancy coming around strong in the Fortune Cookie Ford; she stressed the importance of being open-minded. ∑ Dan, driver of the Carlos O’Kelly’s Chevy, struggled with what path to take, should he go high or low on the track? He found his answers and looked at ways to improve his race without giving more diagnostic tests. ∑ The “Communicator”, Kendra, driver of the Dodge DeFazio’s car, like Nancy, showed how the fuel of open-mindedness works with her race team. She shared her frustration of the lack of inquiry to improve the race system when most teams are satisfied with mediocrity. ∑ Meg showed her risk-taking skills by making a bold move to join us at the SCKWP 400. She has driven her Panera Bread Toyota like she has driven all of her life. Hopefully soon, she realizes that she can drive with the best of them. ∑ The passion of Dennis, driver of the Dutch Kitchen Honda, was seen as he raced ahead to prompt the rest of the drivers to prepare for their race, as well as making clear moves to win his race.

We took a quick pit stop before Sandy, driver of the Simply Southwest Ford, led the drivers through a new way to race…Said is Dead – focusing on internal word choice, which influences voice and ideas/ content. Sam fell behind the pack a little bit as she realized that she would be teaching a very similar teacher demo on Thursday.

Word choice can make a student’s engine much more powerful to help them improve their driving. After some hesitation from the racing group, Meg pulls ahead of the pack to volunteer her skills, followed by Rachel, Dennis and Sam. The race crews then worked together to improve the sentences that could cause their engines to run without any horsepower. The problems were fixed by adding more internal words, and the race resumed.

The red flag came out as Meg stopped the race to share her story “The Skating Lesson” full of colorful and descriptive words – writing is really getting her motor pumping.

The long pit stop took place around noon – lunchtime! We refueled our stomachs and brains!

To get the race started again, Becky jumped ahead in her Hastings Toyota. She used the new information she gained from fine tuning her knowledge about the writing race in “I Was a Journal-Topic Junkie” by Anna Collins…with some fascinating revelations about reflective journaling…looking in the mirror. Becky should be looking in her mirror because the cars on the lead lap are catching back up to her.

The final laps of the day were spent with our racing teams, and individually to improve our own performances in the SCKWP 400 and the future races ahead of us. Teralyn, driver of the Texas Roadhouse Ford, helped Sam and Marilyn, driver of the El Potrillo Toyota deal with storyline problems and technology problems that then led to giggling engines. Other drivers worked on their position papers about racing; some were creative, some were serious, some were persuasive…what will the race hold for us today?